A Kid Records His School Lunch And It Becomes A Documentary Film

Zachary Maxwell hated the lunches his school was serving, so he began video taping them to show his parents how bad they were. Welcome to “YUCK: A Fourth Grader’s Short Documentary About School Lunch.”

In the fall of 2011, fourth grader Zachary Maxwell began asking his parents if he could start packing and bringing his own lunch to school. Unfortunately, they kept insisting that he take advantage of the hot lunch being served at the school. After all, the online menu sounded delicious and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) website assured parents that the meals were nutritious. Zachary wanted to convince his parents that the online menu did not accurately represent what was really being served at his school.

In an effort to prove his point, Zachary started sneaking a small HD camera into the lunchroom to show his parents the truth. Over the next six months, Zachary would continue to gather “inside” footage and research the claims being made by the DOE and the media about the City’s public school lunch program.